I have previously mentioned how I have appreciated H. C. Leupold’s Exposition of Psalms. Here are some great quotes from his introduction on the nature and character of the Psalms (all from p. 28):

“There does not seem to be any situation in life for which the Psalter does not provide light and guidance.”

“They are not the fruit of abstract meditation.  They did not grow out of the study of the scholar.  They were born out of real-life situations.  They are often wet with tears and the blood of the writer.”

“All the psalms were prayed on the steps of the throne of mercy.  The light that emanates from that presence somehow gives light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

“…the psalms have the happy faculty of stimulating our own private prayers and of fructifying them to an unusual degree.”